The current invention is generally related to forced-air type material crushing devices for crushing certain materials such as ice, rock, wood, plastic, glass and waste material, and more particularly related to an improvement in independently controlling certain aspects of the crushing devices.
Japanese Patent 2996949 is related to the current application, and its filing date is Jun. 26, 1998. The above Japanese application was not published until Japanese Patent 2996949 was issued on Jan. 11, 2000. The current application includes the same disclosures of the corresponding Japanese application Hei 11-319608, which was filed on May 8, 1998 and was published on Nov. 24, 1999, but the current application is not based upon priority of this corresponding Japanese application.
FIG. 1 illustrates one exemplary ice crushing device in the prior art. An inlet c and an outlet d form an angle of approximately 180 degrees, and the inlet c and the outlet d are attached to a housing a. Ice is supplied through the inlet c into the housing a where rotatable crushing blades b are housed. The blades b rotate in a clockwise direction, and pieces of ice are forced by air into the housing a towards the rotating blades b as indicated by a right arrow. When the ice pieces hit the rotating blade b, the impact upon the blades b break the ice pieces into smaller pieces in a crushing zone e in the housing a as indicated by a double-headed arrow. The size of the crushing zone e depends upon a relative positional relation of the inlet c with respect to the rotating blades b and the housing a. After the original ice pieces are crushed into smaller pieces, airflow pushes the crushed ice pieces towards the outlet d as indicated by a left arrow. Finally, the crushed ice pieces are outputted through the outlet d.
In the above prior art ice crushing device, there are many undesirable problems. Airflow into the inlet c must be sufficient as well as effective to cause the ice pieces to move towards the rotating blades b through the inlet c and the crushed ice pieces to move away from the rotating blades b through the outlet d. On the other hand, as airflow speed increases towards the rotational speed of the rotating blade b, since the ice pieces move more quickly in the inlet c and the rotating blades b rotate in the same general moving direction of the moving ice pieces, the impact of the ice pieces upon the rotating blades b decreases. As a result, the crushing effect or efficiency of the rotating blades b decreases.
Another undesirable characteristic of the prior art ice crushing device is a limited size of the crushing zone e. As described above, the inlet c and the outlet d form a substantially straight line and are located near the bottom of the housing a. Because of these relative locations, the crushing zone e where the rotating blades b contact with the ice pieces is rather a limited portion as indicated by the double-headed arrow. The limited crushing zone e thus generates a limited amount of crushed material and results in a low crushing efficiency.
These undesirable characteristics remain to be improved. In addition, other features are considered in the current invention for improving material crushing devices.
In order to solve the above and other problems, according to a first aspect of the current invention, there is provided a method of independently controlling a predetermined aspect of material crushing operation, including: rotating crushing blades in a covered chamber; inputting material to be crushed towards the covered chamber through at least a first inlet; crushing the material; inputting airflow into the covered chamber through at least a second inlet while the material is being crushed; independently controlling the speed, volume, temperature, and humidity of the airflow through the second inlet independent of the material input through the first inlet; and outputting the crushed material through an outlet from the covered chamber.
According to a second aspect of the current invention, there is provided an apparatus for crushing material, including: crushing blades rotatably positioned in a housing for crushing a predetermined material; at least a first inlet located on the housing for allowing the material to be deposited into the housing; at least a second inlet also located on the housing for inputting airflow into the housing at a predetermined angle while the material is being crushed; an outlet for outputting the crushed material from the housing; and a controller connected to said second inlet for independently controlling the speed, volume, temperature, and humidity of the airflow through the second inlet independent of the material input through the first inlet.
According to a third aspect of the current invention, there is provided an apparatus for crushing material, including: crushing blades rotatably positioned in a housing for crushing a predetermined material; an outlet located on the housing for outputting the crushed material from the housing; at least an inlet located on the housing near and above the outlet for allowing the material to be deposited into the housing and for inputting airflow into the housing; and a controller connected to said inlet for controlling the speed, volume, temperature, and humidity of the airflow.
These and various other advantages and features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages, and the objects obtained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.